The Who Shot J.R. Phenomenon

The Summer of Who Shot J.R.

On the lighter side of the Who Shot J.R. Phenomenon was something from the Summer of 1980 that was everywhere, and perhaps over-saturated in the news.

Could you imagine the hype of  Who Shot J.R. in the Twitter age?

I was only 8 years old that summer, but my mother, who was a huge fan of the show was captivated by it.  I remember her and grandma constantly talking about the show and the phenomena.

Bumper stickers, and t-shirts, and even a hit song were made out of Who Shot J.R. by a later famous comedic radio personality Gary Burbank, who was best known for a 25 year run on the 50,000 watt radio station 700 WLW out of Cincinnati Ohio.

Things that contributed to the popularity of Who Sot JR:

I always wondered why who shot J.R. happened in the first place? Sometimes things just happen that defy explanation, but I believe the Writers Guild of America strike of 1980, which delayed production for 8 weeks, and also delayed the start of the fall TV season of 1980 was a major factor.

During this delay, CBS ran re-runs of the show that allowed new fans to become swept up in the media storm.

 The new fans, as well as the current fans became familiarized with the plot lines. This helped to heighten the shows manic popularity.

Internationally the show was a major hit, with the U.K also going mad for the show, with even England's Queen Mother commenting on the show.

Who Shot J.R. viewing Parties very the IN thing in the United States and abroad, they were commented on regularly on the national and local news.

The Fact CBS dragged out the revealing of the shooter over 4 episodes, milked every last ounce of publicity out of it too. No doubt CBS was raking in the money with advertising revenue, taking every advantage they could out of the popularity.

JR: The guy you loved to hate

JR Ewing had a sympathetic quality to him, almost child like at times, his never ending attempt at gaining his father's approval long after Jock Ewing (Jim Davis) died, sets the tone for the entire series run.

JR does everything as a means of gaining that father approval, whether through crooked deals, affairs with other woman for "business" reasons, or driving other family members out of Ewing Oil or off of Southfork.

As JR once told Edgar Randolph during season 8: "Once you give up integrity, the rest is easy". Indeed JR's moral compass was based on his own selfish means.


In the end JR is a bad guy, a misogynist, and a narcissist, made all the better as he does it with that devilish smile; thus the reason J.R. Ewing may be the one TV character we most love to hate.... and we as a people, had no choice but to tune in to see if J.R. receives the ultimate punishment or not.


Intro image credit: JR Ewing Action Figure.

Courtesy of Amazon.com.